Physician&#39;s examination hand covering



Dec. 16, 1958 1.. c. SUTHERLAND PHYSICIAN S EXAMINATION HAND COVERING Filed July 12, 1956 ATTORNEY;

PHYSILIANS EXAMINATION HAND COVERING Lyndon C. Sutherland, Rushville, 11].

Application July 12, 1956, Serial No. 597,463

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-161) The present invention relates to hand coverings, and more particularly to devices to prevent contact between the skin of the hand of the doctor with the body of the patient.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive disposable hand covering which is adapted for a single use before being disposed of.

Another object of the invention is to provide .a disposable hand covering which is transparent and provided with means to identify different sizes thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hand covering which is completely safe providing an absolute barrier to the passage of germs and bacteria, and which is considerably cheaper than presently used rubber gloves.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in the light of the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section taken along the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-section taken along the line 33 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The physicians hand covering constructed in accordance with the invention is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10.

The hand covering 10 is constructed of a pair of generally rectangular transparent plastic panels 11 and 12 which are integrally joined by a told 13 and are arranged in face to face parallel relation. One of the three edges 14 of the panel 11 is joined to the adjacent free edge of the panel 12 by heat sealing, such as 15, so that the panels 11 and 12 are joined together along a pair of intersecting side edges thereof.

An identifying tab 16 is formed integrally with or is secured to the panel 11 along the side edge thereof opposite the fold 13 and adjacent the side edge thereof nited States Patent 2,864,090 Patented Dec. 16, 1958 opposite the side edge 14. The tab 16 is colored to indicate the size of the covering 10 and can be used as a handle to manipulate the covering 10 in position on the hand.

In the use and operation of the invention, the physicians hand is placed between the panels 11 and 12 with the fingers extending generally toward the intersection of the fold 13 and the side edge 14 and the thumb being positioned adjacent the tab 16. With the hand covered in this manner the doctor can make a manual or digital examination of the rectal opening of the body without introducing bacteria into the rectum nor having bacteria from the rectum come in contact with the hand. Upon completion of the examination, the doctor can remove the covering 10 by grasping the tab 16 and peeling the covering from the hand.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A physicians examination hand covering for use in conducting rectal examinations comprising a pair of generally rectangular thin plastic panels arranged in face to face parallel relation, said panels each having opposed top and bottom edges and a pair of opposed side edges, said top edges of said panels being integrally joined together, said panels being sealed together along one of said side edges, and a combined identifying tab and handle fixedly secured to and extending outwardly from the bottom edge of one of said panels adjacent the other edge of said panel for stripping said hand covering from the physicians hand after use thereof, each of said panels having said bottom edge and the other of said side edges free to admit the physicians hand therebetween, the physicians hand being encased in said covering and the examining fingers of the physicians hand being disposed so as to terminate adjacent the point of intersection of said top edge and said one side edge whereby contaminating contact between the physicians hand and the rectum may be avoided.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,999,753 Diemer Apr. 30, 1935 2,643,388 Curtis June 30, 1953 2,773,264 Nover Dec. 11, 1956 2,782,912 Humphrey Feb. 26, 1957 

